86 FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC. 



much, out of the way to seek a reason for this : 

 the hook is better concealed, and if made of suffi- 

 ciently soft materials, the water agitates the 

 feathers, and gives them a life-like appearance, 

 which has a wonderful effect, and is of itself a 

 sufficient reason for trout preferring them, without 

 supposing, as some do, that spiders are greater 

 rarities than flies, with a variety of other fine-spun 

 theories. 



By universal consent, feathers seem to have 

 been fixed upon as the most suitable materials for 

 imitating flies. Some years ago gutta perclia 

 wings were tried, but in every respect they are 

 inferior. The selection of proper feathers requires 

 some care ; they should always be taken from the 

 birds w r hen in their full plumage, which is usually 

 about Christmas. Among those considered most 

 necessary are hackles, which are usually taken 

 from the neck of the common cock. It is very 

 difficult to procure them of the right colour, and 

 still more so to procure them of the right shape. 

 In a proper hackle the fibres should be longest at 

 the root end, and taper gradually towards the 

 point. It is not one cock out of twenty whose 

 hackles merit the attention of the fly-dresser. 



The hackle generally plays a very conspicuous 

 part in the construction of trouting flies. The 

 spider or hackle fly is made of it entirely, and in 

 other flies it is used to imitate the legs of the 

 insect. We, however, think the cock-hackle by 



